Lab Rats
by Salchat
Summary: Sheppard is mapping an unexplored area of Atlantis with a team of new recruits. They find a lab and Rodney realises that there is a secret area adjacent to the lab. What will they find inside? Who will get trapped and how will they escape!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **None of these characters belong to me! Just borrowing…

**Chapter 1 – A Boring Mission**

When Private Shanice Williams had joined the Marine Corps, it was not with the expectation of travelling to another galaxy to fight aliens, but Shanice was a woman who had always craved adventure and when she had been told about the Stargate and that she would be joining the Atlantis expedition, she couldn't have been more thrilled.

Two weeks after her arrival on the Daedalus, induction training completed, 'thrilled' was not the word she would use to describe her current state of mind. She had at first been pleased to find herself assigned to a training mission under the command of Colonel John Sheppard, even if it was just exploring the city rather than gating off-world. The Colonel had the reputation of performing amazing feats of heroism and self-sacrifice and Shanice was keen to see him in action. She, along with Privates Adam Phillips and Lisa Martinez, had been surprised by his relaxed command style. Standing to attention, saluting and 'sir, yes, sirring' were obviously not required. Instead, Sheppard seemed to specialise in a casual, yet alert efficiency, his soft-voiced orders short and to the point.

Initially the exploration was interesting; mapping a new area of one of the piers, discovering that it had been used for work rather than residence. There was an area with kitchen facilities which seemed to have been a mess hall and recreation area. There were lots of rooms whose function it was difficult to define; some with workbenches as if some kind of manufacturing had been carried out, some with desks and cabinets which must have been administrative areas. They had even found some public toilets, which made the mission much more comfortable.

But then they had discovered a science lab with an intact console and monitors. Colonel Sheppard said they had to go back and fetch Dr McKay. Which they did. And since then, all they had done was keep watch and listen to Dr McKay and Colonel Sheppard snipe at each other, which they did constantly and with obvious enjoyment, like a pair of pre-teens trying to see how far they could push their parents.

Sheppard was leaning against the wall, P90 held casually as if an extension of his arms, one eye on McKay and another on Phillips and Martinez, who were standing guard in the corridor outside.

Dr McKay began mumbling under his breath again. Shanice caught the words: "dragged me away from important projects," and "wasting my precious time."

"You got anything yet, McKay?" Sheppard interrupted the mumbling.

"In a word, no!" replied the scientist crossly. "It's like a blank slate, set up for data, but wiped of anything useful. It seems like some kind of monitoring system, but I can't work out what it's supposed to be monitoring."

"Anyway," he continued, "it's not so much what's here as what isn't here," said Rodney. "Look," he said pointing to the screen of his laptop, "this is the area we've mapped so far. This is the level we're on, and," he pressed a key and the display changed, "this is the area below."

Sheppard sauntered over and looked at the screen.

McKay pressed the same key repeatedly so that the display flickered irritatingly back and forth from one view to the other.

"See that?" he said. "That area there. It's the same on both levels: nothing. And if your mapping is correct, there are no doors leading into it. And yet if we look at a plan of the outside of the structure," he pressed another key, "there should be something there."

"So you're saying there's a secret room?" asked Sheppard, a crooked grin spreading over his face.

"Not just a secret room, a whole area over two levels, with no apparent access," said McKay, impatiently. "_If_ your mapping is correct."

"It's accurate," confirmed Sheppard. "My guess," he continued, "is that the access is somewhere in here."

"And your reasoning behind that conclusion you've just jumped to?"

"This is the only place with any controls in, it's adjacent to the blacked-out area - I think it's some kind of control room," said Sheppard.

"It's possible," said McKay, grudgingly. "I should also point out something else. If you look here," he zoomed the display out so that the arm of the pier could be seen where it met the central section of the city, "each of the doors that lead to this pier are doubled up, like an air-lock, so that the interior of the pier can be completely sealed from the rest of Atlantis."

John frowned, chewing his lower lip. "So, a secret area and a security system to block it off from the rest of the city."

"Exactly," McKay agreed. "The question is, were they trying to keep something in, or out?"

Shanice had listened to the back and forth between the two men. It sounded like things were about to get interesting and she couldn't help step closer when Colonel Sheppard said, "Let's see what I can do," and gestured for Dr McKay to step aside so that he could sit down at the console.

"Oh, the amazing strength of your super-gene will solve the riddle straight away, no doubt!" sneered McKay.

Sheppard didn't respond, but calmly placed his hands on the Ancient console and closed his eyes. He relaxed and tried not to think of anything in particular, letting his mind clear. And then he used his mind as if he were powering up a jumper and also gave a mental command to 'open'.

There was a distinct 'snick' and Sheppard opened his eyes to see that a door had appeared in the previously blank wall. It slid open, revealing only darkness beyond.

He looked at McKay, smugly.

"Martinez, you stay here, Williams, Phillips, you're with us." Sheppard led the way through the door. He had switched the light on his P90 on, but as soon as they stepped through, the area lit up. There was just a small landing and a flight of stairs leading straight down.

Lights continued to come on as they descended. At the bottom a dimly-lit corridor led left and right for about five yards each way and then turned a corner, hiding what lay beyond.

"McKay, you and Phillips go left, Williams, you're with me," ordered Sheppard. "Check in in five minutes, or sooner if you find anything."

They went their separate ways, cautiously, listening and looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Sheppard and Private Williams turned the corner and a short way ahead of them the corridor ended in a doorway.

As they approached, the door opened smoothly, revealing a long, narrow, high-ceilinged room, with another door exactly opposite. Sheppard and Williams stepped forward together, one to each side of the doorway, scanning the room, P90s ready.

As soon as they crossed the threshold, three things happened: McKay's voice came over the radio, "Sheppard, we've found a door, but it won't open," closely followed by Martinez, saying "Something's happening up here!" And then the door slid firmly shut behind them. Sheppard spun round and felt either side of the door; it remained closed and there were no controls of any kind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – The Vault**

"McKay! Get round here and get this door open!"

"What've you got yourself into now, Sheppard?" came the answer.

"Come on, McKay!"

"I'm here!" panted Rodney, through the radio. "Don't say I never come running!" There was a pause. "This might take a while. It's locked itself."

"Dr McKay?" came Martinez' voice. "There's data scrolling over these monitors."

"Sheppard, I'm going back up to the control room," said Rodney. "The door might open from up there and I need to take a look at that data."

"OK, we'll see if we can get out the other way," replied Sheppard.

So, here was the adventure Shanice had been looking for - trapped in an unexplored part of the city with her CO. Sheppard looked at her and gestured forward with his weapon. "Slowly!" he warned.

They started towards the far door and had not moved more than a couple of cautious steps before there was a flurry of whirring sounds from either side and they both felt a myriad of tiny darts penetrate their clothes and skin. The darts rebounded from their tac vests, but went through everything else.

"Pull them out!" Sheppard urgently began plucking out the darts. Shanice pulled out as many of her own as she could and then Sheppard said, "turn around!" and pulled out the darts she couldn't reach. She did the same for him and then they both stood, watching each other, waiting for a reaction.

"You feel OK?" asked Sheppard, who had had previous experience with poisoned darts.

She nodded. "Just a bit sore, Sir. Kind of itchy." She looked down at her arm. The darts had left tiny marks, not even bleeding, just slightly red.

"Hmm. Me too." He began examining the walls. "I can't even see where they came from. Still OK?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Sheppard, what's happening down there?" came Rodney's voice.

"Poison darts, but without the poison," Sheppard replied.

"What?"

"Darts - they came out of the walls. You find a way to get the door open?"

"Not yet," Rodney responded. "What's with the darts? Could it be some kind of vault - protecting something valuable?"

"I don't know, McKay, sounds a bit Indiana Jones to me. I want you to call Colonel Carter, let her know what's happening, and get Ronon and Teyla down here, see what they can find." Sheppard began moving towards the far door again, "we'll carry on trying to find a way out."

As they moved closer, the door slid open smoothly, revealing a narrow corridor, with another door at the far end.

"This doesn't make any sense," Shanice commented. "Why would the doors ahead of us open if this is a protected vault?"

"I don't like it either," said Sheppard uneasily. "I think we'll stay here, maybe try some C4 on that door."

As he spoke, they both became aware of a humming sound, which seemed to come from the walls. The humming built into a whine and electricity began to crackle along the walls, discharging arcs like mini lightning strikes out into the room.

"Move!" yelled Sheppard. They hurled themselves through the doorway, which, like the one before, closed itself firmly behind them.

"You get the feeling we're being herded?" said Sheppard.

Shanice nodded, "Feels like it, Sir"

"Drop the sir - I think we're going to be stuck in this together for quite a while. You OK?"

She nodded again, beginning to smile. "I was bored before, so at least this is different!"

"I like your attitude, Private Williams." Sheppard reached into a pocket in his tac vest and took out two power bars. He offered one to Shanice. "Here. Eat while you can."  
He unwrapped his bar and began to eat. "We'll wait here for now. I don't think anything good's going to happen if we go through that door."

In the lab, Rodney was studying the monitors closely, muttering to himself. He had told Martinez to keep watch outside and sent Phillips down the stairs to patrol between the two doors.

The muttering stopped. Rodney abruptly sat back in his chair, a frozen expression on his face. He tapped his earpiece and spoke, urgently.

"Teyla? Ronon?"

"We are coming, Rodney," replied Teyla.

"Stop by the infirmary and get Keller," Rodney said abruptly.

"Is somebody hurt?"

"No! I mean, not yet," said Rodney nervously. "Bring her. I need her."

"We will be there soon, Rodney," Teyla said.

Rodney tapped his earpiece again: "Sheppard, what's happening down there?"

"Nothing, at the moment," came the reply. "We had to move out of that room into a corridor or we would've got fried."

_"Fried?"_

"Well, electrocuted. It started coming from the walls."

"Oh, this is bad, this is very bad!" Rodney began tapping at his laptop again, eyes flicking worriedly from one screen to another.

"McKay? What's going on?"

"Erm... I'm not sure, well not totally sure, I'll let you know." Rodney carried on working, searching the ever-changing screens with increasingly worried eyes.

Sheppard and Private Williams had waited for nearly twenty minutes, taking the opportunity to rest and drink from their canteens, when the humming began to come from the corridor walls. They knew what would come next, so they hurriedly got up and made their way to the far door. It opened, predictably, and they reluctantly stepped through, scanning the surrounding walls nervously. The room was the same as the first; long, high-ceilinged, with another door at the far end. The door behind them slid shut and then there was silence.

"I'm not good at waiting," said Sheppard.

He didn't have to wait long. The only warning they had was a subtle hiss. And slowly, steadily a pale green vapour began to issue from the walls, gradually filling the room.

"Gas!" they both cried, and sprinted for the far door, hoping it would open as readily as the previous three. It stayed uncompromisingly shut. The gas cloud rose from floor level, higher and higher and they began to smell it, a pungent, bitter scent, which caught at the back of the throat.

Sheppard and Williams looked at each other, knowing there was nothing they could do.

"McKay!" Sheppard called into his radio. "There's gas down here! We need you to get us out!"

"Gas?" came the frantic reply. "I can't... I don't... Sheppard I don't know how to get you out!"

The gas was nearly up around their heads and Shanice took a deep breath of cleaner air and tried to hold it as long as she could. She could hear Colonel Sheppard coughing but her sight of him was obscured by the green mist.

She was beginning to feel dizzy, her vision going fuzzy, when she felt a hand on her arm and heard a voice: "Breathe. Just breathe, Williams. It's OK." She gasped and took a breath. It tasted bitter and made her cough but she took another breath and another.

"It's not poisonous," came Sheppard's voice through the mist. She could vaguely see his shoulders shrugging in confusion.

"Sheppard!" came Rodney's voice. "Sheppard, can you hear me?"

"We're OK, Rodney," replied Sheppard. "It's OK, we can breath. Now, please tell me what's going on!"

Ronon, Teyla and Jennifer Keller, carrying her medical kit, had arrived in the lab. Rodney opened the comm-link to Sheppard and began to explain what he had found.

"This is a testing facility. A giant version of lab rats in a maze, except so far there haven't been any choices; you're just forced to keep going forwards. These," he gestured at the console and screens, are designed to monitor the health of the test subjects." Keller moved forward and began studying the screens. "It took me a while to interpret, but you can see here there are two distinct sets of data, so one from Sheppard and one from Private Walters."

"Williams," Sheppard interrupted.

"Whatever," continued Rodney. "So, the question I asked myself is this: who would the Ancients have been putting through a series of ordeals in order to study their effect?"

"Wraith," grunted Ronon, succinctly.

"That's why the darts and gas didn't work on us," came Sheppard's voice.

"Precisely," confirmed Rodney. "Because they carry toxins specific to Wraith."

At this point the door out of the gas filled room opened. Sheppard said, "We've got another passageway open ahead of us here. We're going to move forward before the frying starts."

"It looks like you get ten minutes in each of the rooms," Rodney said, "and then twenty in the linking corridors, presumably for the scientists to study the effects and for a certain measure of recovery time."

"Recovery time. Great," groaned Sheppard. "Can't you just turn it off from up there, release all the door locks or something?"

"I've tried, but it's some kind of security feature - once the process has started, it's locked into the system until you come out the other end."

"But this is for Wraith, McKay! Great, big, almost-impossible-to-kill Wraith!" Sheppard stopped, took a deep breath and said with determined calm: "What happens when we get to something they can take but we can't? We've been lucky so far. What if the next room is 'let's see how many high-speed projectiles a Wraith can take and still survive?"

Ronon suddenly released a suppressed roar, ran through the door and down the stairs, pushed past a startled Private Phillips and aimed blast after blast from his energy weapon at the door through which Sheppard and Williams had gone.

Rodney and Teyla waited. The blasting stopped and Ronon came sullenly back up the stairs.

"No effect," he said.

"Well, it's had some effect," snapped Rodney, angrily. "Well done, Conan, you've just set off the security system and now all the doors into this area of the pier have sealed themselves. Now we're all trapped!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Viewing Gallery**

Teyla had contacted Colonel Carter who had said she would immediately send a team down to blast, drill or otherwise penetrate the security doors. Sam also said Zelenka was on the case, trying to access the pier's security system from the central city systems, so far with no luck.

Teyla and Ronon had set off to search the perimeter of the testing facility in an attempt to locate any hidden entrances, access hatches or ventilation shafts. Failing that, they would assess areas of potential structural weakness which might respond to C4.

Dr Keller had been struggling to interpret the Ancients' data displays with limited success.

"I don't think I can help, Rodney, I don't understand this. I don't even see how it could work!"

"Think of it like the Ancient scanner, only not so intense. It scans the area where it detects life signs constantly, in order to monitor things like," Rodney pointed to the display, "here, this one must be pulse, this one... judging by the format of the data, I think this is blood pressure."

Keller still looked baffled.

"I can take this data, run it through a program on my laptop and send it to your data pad in a format you'll recognise," said Rodney.

"Will it take long?"

"No," he replied, "give me ten minutes!"

"Good, because I'm starting to feel pretty useless here!" she said worriedly.

All too soon the next door opened. Sheppard and Williams stayed in the connecting corridor as long as they could, until the familiar humming started up and they knew they had to move or risk electric shocks.

They moved cautiously into the room, this time it was slightly different in that the other door was in the left wall in the far corner.

As soon as the door slid shut behind them they noticed the heat. The walls and floor were hot to the touch and getting hotter and steam began filling the room.

Sheppard felt sweat break out all over his body. He could feel it running down his face, running down his neck and collecting in his collar. The air was so hot it hurt to breathe; it felt like it was scorching the inside of his nose and mouth and down into his lungs. He looked at Private Williams, her face red and shining, gasping painfully for air.

Rodney's voice came through the comms: "Sheppard, what's happening? Keller says your heart rates and respiration are up."

"Heat," Sheppard choked, saving his breath.

Sheppard gestured to the far door, indicating they should get as close as possible so they could dive through as soon as it opened.

They both took off their tac vests and shirts; Sheppard tried to hold on to his weapon but the metal was already hot and burned his hands. He had to put it down. In just T-shirts the skin of their arms felt like it was about to blister. Williams took her canteen, and went to pour some water over her face but Sheppard gestured 'no' to her.

"No, need it all to drink," he gasped.

The steam was making it increasingly difficult to breathe and Sheppard felt his head begin to swim. Private Williams reached out to him, her eyes unfocussed, her breath coming in rapid pants. He grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes.

"Just ... ten ... minutes," he ground out.

Dr Keller was studying her data pad anxiously. "This is bad, Rodney, their core temperatures are beginning to rise - they're heading for heatstroke!"

"Sheppard!" Rodney called urgently, but there was no response. "Sheppard, can you hear me?"

Sheppard and Williams stood, leaning against each other for support, simply enduring the oven-like temperature, desperately hoping they wouldn't pass out and fall to the searing heat of the floor, which was beginning to melt the soles of their boots.

When the door finally opened Williams all but fell through onto the floor of the connecting passageway, Sheppard forcing himself to kick their discarded kit through the door before he sagged to the ground. He felt drained and just lay, enjoying the cool smoothness of the floor against his cheek.

He became aware of Rodney's voice calling to him and managed to croak a reply: "We're OK."

Sheppard knew they had limited time to recover and fortify themselves against the next ordeal, so he reluctantly pushed himself up to sitting and nudged Williams until she did too.

"Drink," he said. "Small sips - we don't know when we'll get more."

They sat, sipping from their canteens.

"Feel sick," said Williams, her face paling beneath her scorched skin.

"Me too," Sheppard replied. "Just keep breathing, slowly. Can't afford to lose the fluids."

Shanice tried to breathe slowly through her nausea and gradually her stomach settled. Her clothes and hair were damp with sweat and she knew she must look a mess. She looked across at the Colonel who looked just as dishevelled, his hair drooping down, some plastered to his forehead.

"Still having fun?" he asked with his quirky smile.

"Oh, yes," she pretended enthusiasm, "lots of fun!"

Soon, they knew they would have to move. They got up, shakily donned shirts, vests and fastened their P90s back on securely. They made their way to the far door with trepidation.

Sheppard sighed. "This is getting old."

Shanice looked at him.

"Ten minutes," she said. "We can do this."

Sheppard nodded, grimly as the door slid open and they stepped through.

Rodney was extremely frustrated. Not only was he without both coffee and access to the facilities of his lab, not least of which was the normal stimulation of his sniping at Zelenka, which often knocked some ideas loose in his genius brain, but above all, he could see no way of helping his friend.

"Ronon, Teyla, sitrep!" he barked into the radio, secretly pleased and a little surprised at the way the military jargon slipped out so easily.

"We have found no apparent weakness in the walls of the facility, Rodney," came Teyla's voice. "There are only some very narrow ventilation shafts."

"We could stick some C4 in them!" Ronon interrupted.

"Try it," said Rodney. "Things are getting bad in there."

"We will try," said Teyla, doubtfully.

Rodney looked again at the displays in front of him.

"These don't make sense," he declared, jabbing a finger at the monitors. "What's the point in collecting all this data if you can't actually see what's going on? Why isn't there a visual display?"

"Well, maybe there is and you just haven't found how to get it on screen," suggested Jennifer.

"I've been playing with this thing for ages - there's nothing there!" he said dismissively. "How are they looking?" he asked, nodding at Jennifer's data pad.

"Better now," she pointed at the screen, "heart rates are nearly normal, temperatures back down. I'm just concerned about what's coming next."

"Right, I'm going to try and do a Sheppard," Rodney decided. "My gene maybe artificial, but it's worth a shot."

He closed his eyes and rested his hands lightly on the Ancient display, trying to relax and empty his mind, which was difficult because Rodney's mind was a very busy place. Then he ran through all the synonyms for seeing he could think of: look, observe, survey, view, inspect, witness, regard, notice and in desperation, behold!

He heard two clicks and a hiss as of escaping pressure.

"Look!" Jennifer exclaimed.

Rodney opened his eyes and looked where Jennifer was pointing.

Either side of the landing at the top of the stairs were two openings. Rodney rushed over and was about to rush through, but then remembered Sheppard's SOP. "Phipps, Philpott, whatever your name is, get up here!"

Private Phillips came clattering up the stairs.

"I need you to do the soldier thing, come on, hurry up" ordered Rodney, waving his hands.

Phillips, weapon at the ready, moved forward through the door on the right. Rodney, waited, hopping impatiently from foot to foot.

"All clear!" came Phillips voice from behind him, making Rodney jump.

"It goes all the way round," Phillips explained. "You can see into the level below, but I couldn't see the Colonel or Private Williams."

Rodney went in, immediately noticing that the area was a kind of viewing gallery, looking down over the rooms Sheppard and Williams had described. Rodney guessed the windows were one-directional. There was no view into the connecting passageways.

He rushed past the rooms, muttering as he went: "Darts... gas... heat..." He turned the corner at the end of the gallery, and looked down into a room where the walls were covered in frost. At the far end, clinging together, heads down, eyes closed and shuddering with cold, were Sheppard and Williams.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Escape Plan**

Sheppard and Williams entered the fourth room side by side. As the door shut the temperature suddenly plummeted. The shock of cold, especially with their still sweat-dampened clothes and hair, was intense and they immediately began to shiver.

"Far door," said Sheppard, his breath pluming into the air.

They moved to the far end of the room, once again desperate to be as close to escape as possible.

Shanice could see frost beginning to form on her eyelashes. She put a hand up to her hair and could feel it freezing into stiff spikes. She felt the cold penetrating her body, a bone-deep pain making her thoughts slow and her limbs feel heavy.

Sheppard adjusted his P90 so it hung behind him, swearing as the freezing metal stuck to his hands. "Come here," he said, moving her weapon out of the way too. They huddled together as close as they could trying to share what little warmth they had left.

Rodney ran to the next room in the sequence, plans forming in his head. Plans that were quickly dashed when he saw the next room: double thickness walls so that the view through both layers of the one-way window was indistinct. Peering down into the room he could just see the doors were different too - a raised threshold and some kind of extra-secure door seal like in an air-lock. _We'll never get through that!_ he thought.

On to the next room; it looked the like the others. Here was where they would try to blow Sheppard and Williams a way out.

Rodney tapped his comm-link.

"Ronon, Teyla!" he called urgently.

"It didn't work, McKay," came Ronon's deep voice. "Hardly dented the wall."

"Never mind that now. Just get back here. Bring whatever C4 you have left, round up Martinez and Phillips and get theirs too! Just hurry!"

He went back to the freezer-room and saw Jennifer running towards him, datapad in hand. "Rodney, what's happening?" She looked down into the room and her mouth fell open. "That's... that's barbaric! They're hypothermic, they need to get out of there!"

The door at the far end of the room slid open, but Sheppard and Williams didn't move.

"Sheppard!" called Rodney.

Jennifer joined in. "Colonel Sheppard! John! Get out of there!"

At last their words penetrated Sheppard's frozen mind and he shuffled towards the door, pushing Private Williams ahead of him. The door closed behind them and they were, for the moment, lost to sight.

In the passageway, Williams fell against the wall and slid down to curl up in a shivering heap. Sheppard fell forward heavily on to his knees; his head hung down.

He realised that Rodney was speaking to him again.

"Listen, Sheppard! We're behind the wall in the level above you. We're going to try to blast through, but we can't do it in the next room, it'll have to be the one after. Can you hear me Sheppard? John?"

"Yeah, I hear you," he replied tiredly, the shivering beginning to abate.

"You have to get through the next room and then listen to what I want you to do. OK?"

"Yeah, OK."

In the viewing gallery Rodney rapidly explained his plan to Ronon, Teyla, Jennifer, Martinez and Phillips.

"We need to blast a hole in this window and we need to do it as soon as the door opens but before they enter. The materials this place is made of are tough - very high security, to keep angry Wraith contained. We need a concentrated blast making the best use of our limited C4."

"I can handle that, Sir," said Martinez, who had proved particularly skilful in deploying high explosives during her training.

"Good," said Rodney. "Get started on that. Next thing, I predict that further security measures will come into effect as soon as the system detects that the wall's been breached. That means the doors within this facility will seal, which means we need to wedge anything strong and rigid into all of the doors before that happens or we'll be trapped."

"I'm on it McKay," Ronon said, but Rodney stopped him.

"Look for some way of getting them out too. We don't know what's going to happen in the next room, but," he paused, swallowed and continued resolutely: "I doubt if they'll be in any condition to climb out."

Ronon nodded grimly and sprinted off, taking Phillips and Teyla with him.

Sheppard had crawled over to where Williams lay and was shaking her shoulder.

"C'mon, Williams." He shook her again. "C'mon. Shanice! Up and at 'em. You wanted excitement, you got it!"

She slowly raised her head and gave him a small, brave smile.

"I'm up, quit hassling!"

"Now, is that any way to speak to your Commanding Officer, Private?" Sheppard joked.

They made it to their feet, leaning heavily into each other for support.

"One more room, then we're out of here," said Sheppard, firmly. "Do you hear me, Williams?"

She nodded her head. They stood, side-by-side once more, waiting for the door to open, noticing it's raised threshold and extra-strong construction and wondering what it could mean.

Rodney was also wondering, and hoping it wasn't a space for testing how Wraith could stand up to a vacuum_. Ten seconds of that would be enough to kill them, let alone ten minutes,_ he thought.

He saw the door open and Sheppard and Williams step over the threshold. And immediately they fell to the floor as if pressed down by a giant weight. _So, gravity, not vacuum_, he thought, somewhat reassured.

He could see Sheppard and Williams struggling desperately to crawl to the far door, and then suddenly they began to drift away from the floor, arms and legs scrabbling for purchase. They rose to the height of about six feet and then were ruthlessly slammed into the floor once more by the returning gravity. Williams' head hit the floor and Rodney could tell she was immediately unconscious. Sheppard's weight hit the floor on his out-stretched right arm and Rodney could see the grimace of pain on his face as his head was forced into the floor by the pressure.

In the corridors surrounding the Wraith-testing facility it looked like a furniture auction room. Phillips had pointed out rooms where there were sturdy desks and benches and Ronon was using his considerable strength to fling them out into the corridors and carry them, upside down on his head, to slam them into the door-spaces that could potentially lock closed when the security measures were triggered. Phillips and Teyla moved a bit more slowly, one at each end of their desk. They had taken some right into the viewing gallery where Ronon said he would drop them down into the room and help Sheppard and Williams to climb up and out.

When Sheppard hit the floor he immediately felt the snap of his collar bone and the pain in his wrist. Of more immediate concern, however, was the fact that Williams was unconscious. He needed to protect her from further knocks or her head injury could become very serious, if not fatal.

With his experience as a pilot, Sheppard knew a lot about functioning in high-G conditions and he knew that lying horizontally on his back was the best way to avoid any ill effects. He forced his heavy body over and reached, sliding his left arm over to Williams and grabbing the back of her vest.

When the g-force began to lessen he used the opportunity to pull her over on top of him so that her back was to his front. He pushed as much as he could with his legs towards the far door until they left the floor completely and he found, as he had hoped, that he was still drifting in the right direction.

The shock of another sudden huge increase in gravity was intense. Sheppard felt his back hit the floor hard but managed to curl forward slightly so that his head didn't hit first. With his left arm he kept Williams' weight on top of him, protecting her at the expense of the sudden increase in pressure on his ribs. His already injured arm hit the floor and he gasped with pain and tried to slide his hand into the straps of his thigh holster to protect it.

Rodney watched with horrified fascination as Sheppard and Williams were repeatedly subject to wildly varying gravitational forces. He checked with Martinez, who was confident that she had arranged the C4 in such a way as to concentrate the force of the blast on a small area of the window.

Ronon knew his job was to break away as much of the window as they needed to effect a rescue as soon as the explosion had cleared and then drop desks through into the room below to form a makeshift stair.

Teyla and Phillips were ready to put their uniform jackets over any jagged areas of the blast sight and help their friends out of the window. And Jennifer was more than ready to put her skills into action.

All five of them watched, tensely as the gravity room finally wound down and Sheppard dragged Williams painfully over the threshold and into the connecting corridor.

"What d'you need me to do, McKay?" Sheppard's strained voice came over the radio.

"I need you to wait, away from the door," explained McKay. "We're going to blast a hole as soon as the door opens and Ronon's going to drop things in for you to climb up."

There came the sound of a pained gasp. "Williams is unconscious, and," there was a pause, "well, I'll manage, but I can't carry her."

"That's OK, we'll come and get you." McKay then said, urgently: "I need you to have your P90s ready. When the blast goes off the door might shut and trap you in. You need to be ready to wedge them in the door to keep it open!"

"Will do."

"Right, we need to get back, round the corner," Rodney directed. "Sheppard, as soon as the door opens, shout out!"

"OK, I'm ready."

"Martinez? You ready with the trigger," asked Rodney.

She held it up and nodded.

"And don't bother with any of that 'Fire in the hole' stuff," he said. "Our signal to keep our heads down is Sheppard's yell!"

They were ready.

Sheppard's voice came urgently through the radio: "It's opening!"

Martinez' thumb came down on the trigger. There was a deafening roar. It was time to get their people out. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 - Teamwork**

Ronon, Teyla and Phillips dashed forwards as soon as the smoke began to clear to perform their assigned tasks.

There was a jagged hole about two feet across, which Ronon began to enlarge by the simple expedient of hitting all round the edges with a sturdy chair.

Teyla and Phillips placed their jackets over the sharp edges and Ronon took one of the desks in two hands, leant out over the drop and let it fall into the room with a crash. He took another, smaller one and let that go and then was over the sill, leaping down into the room below.

Sheppard had been ready and had pushed one P90 into the gap at the base of the door when it had begun to close and another at the top. He saw Ronon's efforts to make the escape hole larger and watched as the desks were dropped through.

He also noticed something else happening in the room; some kind of projectiles were shooting periodically out from the walls.

"Ronon, be careful!" he called.

As Ronon clambered his way down the stair something swished past his face, so narrowly missing him that he felt the wind of its passing. _Better be quick!_ he thought.

He ran across to Sheppard, who had kept Williams safely in the corridor, scooped her up and said to Sheppard, "Can you make this?"

"Yes, just go!" Sheppard replied.

They ran across the room, Ronon shielding Williams as well as he could.

Sheppard felt something strike the back of his tac vest, but it didn't penetrate.

They scrambled up the stair of desks, Sheppard struggling to keep his balance with the use of one arm. Ronon had passed Williams through to Rodney and Dr Keller and was reaching back to give Sheppard a hand when he felt as if something had drilled a hole in his left calf. He carried on regardless, helping Sheppard through the hole first and then diving through headfirst himself.

They were safe, for the moment, but Rodney said, "Right, let's not rest on our laurels, I don't trust this place. Everyone out! Now!"

He was right to hurry them. Sheppard heard a familiar humming sound building and shouted a warning: "Go, if you don't want to get fried!"

Ronon once more took Williams and Rodney made sure Sheppard kept up. Their progress was slowed by the desks and benches jamming the doors open, but they all made it, through the viewing gallery, across the landing and out through the lab, even while the electricity was building up and beginning to arc out into the room.

Ronon carefully placed Williams on the floor in the corridor outside, Martinez placing her folded up jacket under her head. She was beginning to stir groggily and Jennifer knelt down to check her over.

"Pull the desk out, Ronon, let the door shut," said Rodney.

Ronon gave the desk a firm tug and the door eagerly slammed closed.

"Lock that one out of the dialling programme!" said Sheppard, painfully, cradling his arm.

"You got that right," agreed Ronon, as Teyla passed him a pressure bandage from her vest and helped him tie it round his calf.

Sheppard sat down and leant against a wall. Jennifer sat next to him and from her bag took out a sling, carefully fastening it round his injured arm. Sheppard's eyes were drifting closed in exhaustion.

They heard the sound of running boots approaching and round the corner came Major Lorne, his team and some medics, all led by Colonel Carter.

Carter smiled when she saw them, but looked concerned at their injuries. She waved the medical teams over and Dr Keller immediately began briefing them on Sheppard's and William's conditions and directing them in carefully placing her charges on gurneys.

"You got through the doors, then?" Rodney asked Sam.

"Yeah, they were tough," she said, "but, you know, there's not much a determined team of engineers can't do with some high-speed drills and plenty of C4. Is there anything in there worth studying?"

"No. I think we should leave it locked up," Rodney said angrily. He had hated seeing his friend and Private Williams go through such a brutal series of tests.

"Sounds like you took control in there, Rodney," said Sam. "You got your team out"

"Oh, well, yes, I did my best," he said with false modesty. "But it was a team effort," he conceded.

"Come on," she said. "We'll stop by the mess hall before we debrief.

Rodney immediately perked up. "Hmm... macaroni cheese today, I believe!"

The party made their way through the now mangled security doors, medics first, Sheppard and Williams on the gurneys, Williams flanked by her concerned team-mates, Ronon resolutely limping along behind.

Rodney looked at the people ahead of him and felt glad that he hadn't panicked (much) or lost his nerve. They had worked together to rescue their team-mates and had all got out more-or-less in one piece. _A proud moment for Dr Rodney McKay_ he thought.

Shanice woke up feeling better. She knew she'd been awake one or twice before, but it was all very hazy.

She opened her eyes to see Colonel Sheppard sitting in a chair by her bed. He looked pale and uncomfortable and his right arm was in a sling, bound close to his chest.

"Colonel Sheppard, sir," she croaked.

He reached awkwardly, left-handed, for a cup of water with a straw and put it to her lips.

"Thank you," she said, feeling the cool water going down her throat.

"I just wanted to see how you were," he said, sounding faintly embarrassed.

"I'm OK, I think," she said and continued, equally embarrassed, "that is, erm... I wanted to apologize."

"What for?" he said, his brow crinkling in confusion.

"Oh, well I was pretty useless yesterday." She cleared her throat, awkwardly, "I didn't really do anything."

"You did what you could," Sheppard said firmly. "You kept your head, you kept going, hey, you even kept your sense of humour until you got knocked out! You did good, Private!"

"I still felt pretty useless..." she said, unconvinced.

"Listen," he said, leaning forward, "sometimes you're the one doing the planning and the thinking and the action, sometimes you're just the one enduring whatever gets thrown at you. It's about being part of a team. Sometimes you have to rely on your team to get you out of a situation. And for what it's worth, I'd be happy to have you on my team, here or off-world. And Phillips and Martinez. You all did a good job."

He sat back, even more embarrassed at his long speech and, if he was honest ready to go and find a bed to lie on himself. The pain-killers and muscle-relaxants Keller had given him when she'd discharged him that morning were doing no good in his pocket.

"Thank you, sir," she said, blushing at the praise. She looked intently at his face and uncomfortable posture. "Erm... should you be here, sir? Did Dr Keller say you could get up?"

"She did this morning!" said Jennifer, marching up with her hands on her hips. "But you should be in your room resting!"

"I just wanted to check on Private Williams," he muttered, sheepishly.

"Consider her checked, Colonel! Now, out, before I get out a nice gown for you and keep you here!"

Sheppard stood carefully, nodded at Williams with his quirky grin, and left the infirmary as swiftly as he could.

Jennifer smiled at Shanice as she checked her blood pressure and temperature. "So," she said, "what's your verdict on your first mission?"

Shanice thought about her ordeal. "Well," she said thoughtfully, "at the time it was scary. And uncomfortable, even painful." She paused. "But working with Colonel Sheppard, and his team and thinking about getting to know my team that well? And all the planets there are out there for us to explore, let alone the rest of Atlantis?" She beamed: "I think I have the best job in two galaxies!"


End file.
